Unlike The Art of Urban Sketching, Gabi’s
first book, which is a huge, coffee-table gallery of sketches from around the
globe, Architecture and Cityscapes is
a compact manual of key principles that are essential to fully expressing
oneself when sketching on location. It’s an ideal companion piece to the Art of Urban Sketching’s inspirational eye
candy.

The six principles – composition, scale, depth, contrast,
line, creativity – are illustrated with Gabi’s sketch examples as well as those
of many urban sketchers worldwide who exhibit a vast range of styles and media.

Each of the book’s sections presents direct and practical information
as it relates to architectural and street sketching along with an example to
illustrate each concept. For example, in the section on composition: apply the
rule of thirds; use thumbnails to plan; choose interesting formats. Depth is
one section that was especially useful to me: How do you show the
three-dimensionality of a building on a flat piece of paper? Perspective is one
obvious choice, and Gabi gives simple tips on learning to convey perspective
accurately. But there are other ways to give depth to a sketch – putting an
element in the foreground; silhouetting areas of a sketch that would otherwise
detract from the subject; using tonal values.

The book’s sixth key, creativity, encourages the reader to
push beyond simply rendering a building to finding one’s unique style. “Developing
your own drawing style takes time. Be patient,” Gabi urges. “You risk not finding
it if you give up too soon.” The last section is a slim gallery of works organized
by media by artists well-known in the urban sketching community.

Gabi’s personal approach and attitude toward urban sketching
and toward drawing as a form of personal expression are apparent throughout. “A
line made with assertion, even if it’s in the wrong spot, is worth a thousand
marks made with hesitation,” he says. He encourages sketchers to engage with
interested bystanders who comment on your sketch. “Urban sketching is about
immersing yourself in your city or the places you travel. You’ll miss out if
you wear headphones or don’t welcome interaction.”

To a would-be urban sketcher who has never even touched a
sketchbook, I might not recommend this as a first reference, as there’s no information
about materials or practical suggestions (bring a hat and stool!) for on-site
sketching. (To those folks, I might recommend James Hobbs’ Sketch Your World,
which is a more comprehensive guide on how to become an urban sketcher.) For
all the rest of us, though, Architecture
and Cityscapes is a handy, compact volume small and thin enough to throw
into our sketch bags. (It even has an elastic band to look like a Moleskine and
a few blank pages inside to sketch on!)(A shorter version of this review appears on Amazon.com.)